Spotted: the Facebook craze used for declaring your love... or outing cheats

It's been used to catch out cheating husbands and rant about shoddy customer service.

It's been used to catch out cheating husbands and rant about shoddy customer service.

But experts warn the latest craze to hit social media and take Facebook by storm could get out of hand.

Spotted groups have been set up for cities, universities and even schools in Wales as the groups that began as a bit of fun for bored students avoiding revision in the library quickly turned into an online phenomenon.

Anonymous postings range from the romantic to the humorous to the obscene as users latch on to the guaranteed veil of anonymity and take their chance to tell that special – or not so special – someone exactly what they think.

Shy lovebirds attempt to bag the date of their dreams with declarations like: “To the girl on the bus stop by Natwest, you were fit. That’s why I drove past few times and you knew it.”

Meanwhile, jilted lovers are using the page to take revenge on love rats by letting rip.

One poster said: “To the guy and the woman he left me for last year! So sorry to hear it didn't work out, it never does!

“Because grass isn't always greener. Get to the clinic, tramps.”

Spotted Cardiff has racked up almost 4,000 fans since it was set up last month.

Aberystwyth’s version has gained around 7,500 fans since it was launched in the middle of December.

The craze has also hit schools, with one page set up for a Vale of Glamorgan school being used to post foul-mouthed abuse about teachers and other pupils.

And experts warn it’s not all fun and games.

Cardiff University’s media law specialist, Duncan Bloy, believes schools and universities should act quickly and set up social media strategies before Spotted and similar naming and shaming trends get out of hand.

He said: “Universities really need to address this social media problem quickly. Some of these pages could cause serious harm.”

The writers of any potentially defamatory comments would be difficult to track down, with proceedings at the High Court being the only way to force Facebook to release computer IP address.

Professor Bloy said: “The process they would have to go through is tortuous and costly.

“The only way an ordinary person is going to get to that kind of information is if they find a lawyer to do it for them. Even if they manage that, the nature of these pages makes it very difficult to find out exactly who the culprit of an individual comment is.

“Essentially, it is 99% anonymous.”

The abuse posted on the pages is not to everyone’s tastes. On the Rhondda Spotted page, one user hit back: “To the ******* that thinks it’s funny to abuse innocent people and scare the **** out of them, please be aware that you won't always be able to hide behind a Facebook page!

“You have no right to hurt people, scare them or say **** about people you know nothing about!”

WalesOnline is part of Media Wales, publisher of the Western Mail, South Wales Echo, Wales on Sunday and the seven Celtic weekly titles, offering you unique access to our audience across Wales online and in print.